What’s a D&C like?

Warning, this has lady bits/medical stuff on it, don’t read it if you’re squeamish, mmk?

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When I was dealing with my miscarriage I tried using Google to find out what other issues people had and if I could find anything similar to what I was dealing with. I found a few threads that were years old and had no definitive answers. Specifically I was dealing with spotting after a natural miscarriage, spotting after miscarriage at 11 weeks, spotting for weeks after miscarriage. Hopefully if anyone finds this post, they’ll get some useful information. Hopefully they won’t feel as alone, and hopefully, they’ll have some hope.

After bleeding off and on for several months, my doctor did an ultrasound and discovered some leftover placental tissue (at least, that’s the thought as of now). So they recommended that I come in for a D&C. I definitely did not want to, because you have to have surgery, it has all the same risks as any other surgery, and I hoped that everything would clear up by itself.* Obviously it did not, and my health was deteriorating. I was feeling more and more tired, worn down, cranky, and upset every day. Let’s be completely honest (cover your eyes guys).. bleeding that much – folks, that does not smell/look/feel good at all- no way to feel sexy or womanly. It’s just plain upsetting.

Before the surgery: I had all my questions answered both on the phone and in person, and got to talk to the nurse, anesthesiologist, and doctor before proceeding. The nurse had me give a urine sample, get dressed in the fancy robes (front and back, so I was covered in both directions, whew!), and put in my IV. They even gave me grippy-feet socks so I wouldn’t slip on the short walk to the surgery bay. They took my blood pressure and had me go over some standard forms, such as charging my insurance. I even got a totally rad hat like the medical staff all wear, and tucked my Katniss style braid inside. All set.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I was completely nervous. I felt almost as bad as right before my doctor’s appointment. Obviously my sanity has been compromised (a bit) by having this all happen, and continue on for such a long time. However, by the time I was in the OR, I was settled and mostly ready to go through with it. I totally offered up a hail mary prayer on the table. I’m like that. As for the procedure, I happened to have anesthesia through IV. I gather some places don’t do that. I was given painkiller that lasted quite some time, and of course that kept me blissfully unaware of the pain. In general, there is dilation, camera (yes, there were photos) and cleaning out of tissues involved. Those tissues are sent to the lab for testing. Then my insides were painted with some goop for healing. I was wheeled back out to wake up. The whole thing took about 20 minutes. The nurse showed me the pictures of what they had done, didn’t look like much obviously. My husband talked to the doctor and everything went as smoothly as possible. Obviously, all I can remember is being in the ER, then waking up in recovery, feeling kind of… slow. It was humorous how slowly I answered some simple questions. My brain had to really work hard to figure out how to answer the nurse. They offered me some crackers and a 7up to get something in my belly. I’m sure that serves 2 purposes. 1, making sure you don’t immediately barf up what you’re given, which would indicate something was wrong, and 2, getting something in your belly since you haven’t eaten. Once that was done, it was time to go. Getting on to my feet to get my clothes on was a challenge. I was given instructions for discharge ahead of time, and my husband drove me home. They even gave me a pad for the ride home and wheeled me out to the car. Curb side service.

The nitty gritty: You go in having had nothing to eat or drink after midnight the night before. Even though I thought it would really bother me, I didn’t even feel much like eating afterward. Probably the meds. The goop burned a little bit coming out, but other than that, a tiny bit of blood, and a few cramps, that was it. I was given a script but didn’t even remotely need it. I took some ibuprofen at night. The IV hurt a lot more than the few cramps I had afterward. I used a panty liner after the pad was full of the goopy medicine and it didn’t have much on it. After the first few times urinating, there wasn’t any more medicine on the toilet tissue. I noticed an odd feeling and discovered something ‘stuck’ in that general area. When I took a shower whatever it was (most likely dried medicine) came off with a washcloth. {edited to add that the medicine may take a few days to all come out, resembles a paper bag, both in looks and feeling. I’m sorry for that image, but the truth doesn’t lie, as they say.}

I felt very tired and very slow for the rest of the day. I napped a little bit and went to bed early. I woke up a few times and slowly shuffled to the bathroom and back, but my morning, I was only tired. As the day wore on, I tackled one chore after another, and actually felt more gusto than I have in weeks. I wore down pretty quickly, but overall, not bad, considering how I’ve been feeling. The surgery suite called me to follow up the next day. I haven’t had any other problems. In fact, I feel REALLY good overall. Now, if you’ve JUST had a miscarriage, that may not hold true for you, but mine was almost 5 months ago, so I am past a lot of the grieving, the loss, the negativity. If you’re still going through the stages of grief, you may not feel ‘good’, but at least you have an idea now of what happens in a D&C. This was actually so far removed from the experience of being pregnant that it seems ridiculous that it’s the aftermath of a lost pregnancy.

*Obviously this is just my little way of recording my experience so others can get an idea of what goes on with a D&C. No one told me what it was like that had had one. At all. So I went into it completely blind. This is a personal choice between you and your doctor, given your circumstances, as to what kind of experience you have. I am not a doctor, and in no way should any of this be considered medical advice. I’m just giving you a heads up on what to expect.

I really hope this is the last time I write about this subject in general. Time to move on…